Chapter 82: Gossiping is the Nature of Veridians

Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Gossiping is the Nature of Veridians

Rian Sinclair had just picked up Bandage when she heard a familiar, ear-piercing squeal. "Pupperoo! Floofball! Hakimi, Hakimi! It’s a Sammy! My precious wittle baby!"

Selena Forrest immediately shoved her face right up against Bandage, scaring the dog into a howl. Rian honestly couldn’t stand it anymore. She shoved Selena’s approaching face away. "Selena! Tone down that Lady Rockjet voice of yours!"

Hearing Rian’s irritable tone, Selena instantly stood at attention, her posture military-stiff and her gaze as resolute as someone swearing an oath of allegiance.

Rian led her to the sofa. However, Bandage—who had originally been in Rian’s arms—was now being intensely smothered and snuggled by Selena. For a moment, it was hard to tell who was acting more like a dog: Bandage or her.

"Ria, you have no idea," Selena said, still burying her face in the dog’s fur. "I used to think toxic female rivalry only existed in novels, but it turns out people actually pull that crap in real life. The way I’m acting right now? I was driven to this level of madness.

"Instead of internalizing the stress and letting it eat me alive, I’d rather go feral and make it everyone else’s problem. Back at school, I was this close to grabbing a dog and dancing with it."

Selena angrily bit into a pastry. "Ria, you don’t even know! I’ve been hoarding so much gossip in my heart, and I had no one to spill it to!"

"Don’t you share it in the group chat every single day?" Rian was genuinely confused. Whenever she opened their messaging app, it was always Selena talking about some massive scandal at this or that university.

Selena shook her head with a profound expression. "That barely scratches the surface! Let me tell you, Ria. Two girls at a certain university took some dry ice and put it in a bottle after chemistry class. Afraid of getting caught, they screwed the cap on tight and hid in the restroom to play with it. As a result, they blew up the entire bathroom! Can you believe that? The school even had to add a new rule just for that.

"And get this. A girl gave birth in her dorm restroom in the middle of the night. Afterward, she threw the baby out the fifth-floor window and went right back to her room. Later, her roommate got up to use the bathroom, saw it covered in bloody water, and called the police."

Selena clicked her tongue. "If she didn’t want it, why not get an abortion earlier? Now she’s got an abandonment charge slapped on her, and her bright future is completely ruined.

"Oh, Ria, here’s a hilarious one. At another school, someone took a dump but didn’t have any toilet paper. So, they ended up smearing their poop all over the bathroom wall. The school found out, actually tested the poop for fingerprints, caught the guy, and issued a public disciplinary notice! When I heard that, I laughed so hard I nearly puked.

"And let me tell you one from our own school. A guy in our PE class fell over and accidentally got a mouthful of grass. He decided the grass tasted really good. The next day, he brought his buddies to the sports field so they could all eat grass together. They all ended up in the hospital getting their stomachs pumped!

"I almost died laughing when I heard about it. Now that’s true brotherhood—taking your bros down with you."

Selena grew more and more enthusiastic as she spoke, and Rian listened with equal vigor. As a Veridian who lived for gossip, ignoring perfectly good spilled tea was the behavior of a complete fool.

However, Rian noticed quite a few people cleaning up on the first floor, yet all of their attention was stealthily focused on their conversation. She wondered if interstellar folks loved gossip too.

"I mean, what was that couple doing naughty things in the campus ATM booth thinking?" The System’s voice suddenly chimed in, touching on the exact same gossip Selena had just mentioned. Rian was momentarily rendered speechless. The System was being a little too human.

"Ahem... Anyway... Out of the handsome men from earlier, there were sixty-five in total. Thirty-one scored above ninety, and thirty-four scored below. They have accumulated a total of 750 affection points toward the host, which have been converted into 750 attribute points."

Looking at the 750 attribute points that had instantly appeared, Rian had no idea how to use them for the time being.

"DING! Attribute points can be converted into lottery draws. The conversion ratio between draws and attribute points is one to ten."

That meant she had seventy-five draws. But Rian didn’t start drawing immediately. She didn’t have any pressing needs at the moment, so she figured she would save the draws for when she was bored later.

Selena was getting more animated by the second. A maid came over to pour tea, and after downing her cup, Selena resumed her endless torrent of words, transitioning seamlessly from campus drama to internet celebrity scandals, then to the gaming sphere, and finally to the entertainment circle.

Rian also shared a few pieces of entertainment gossip. After all, she possessed firsthand information from her past. Even though she had terminated her contract, she hadn’t directly reported them. Many of those who had terminated their contracts ended up joining other entertainment agencies, turning the whole industry into a real-life game of Werewolf.

Since Rian held firsthand dirt on the entertainment industry, Selena listened with absolute fascination. Whenever she heard something particularly shocking, she would click her tongue and offer a scathing critique.

Thank goodness her precious idol didn’t have any dark history! That was a close call; she had almost been ready to abandon her boy.

"By the way, Ria, do you know Evan Rivers, the Grand Slam Best Actor?" Seeing her best friend’s confused expression, Selena clarified, "The huge movie star who tipped you on Sharkstream!"

Hearing this, it finally clicked for Rian. "What about him?"

"Do you have any dirt on him? I’ve been dying for some gossip on that sharp-tongued actor for ages!"

Looking at Selena’s impatient face, Rian replied, "Why would he have any?" Evan Rivers was the sole heir to the Rivers Family in Kyoro. There was no way the elders of his family would ever allow any scandals about him to leak.

Selena looked crestfallen. "After hearing so much dirt on all those big shots just now, I figured Rivers, the Actor, would have some too."

Rian narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment. "Isn’t he Sarah’s idol? Why are you hoping for him to have a scandal?"

Selena turned her head away. "That wench Sarah is always hoping for my precious idol’s downfall too! I only snuck into those massive gossip groups so I could catch a huge scandal on Evan Rivers and deal a fatal blow to Sarah."

Hearing this, Rian waved her hand helplessly. Selena and Sarah Forrest weren’t just best friends; they were absolute frenemies. They wholeheartedly prayed for each other’s idols to get canceled just so they could gloat. However, the idols they stanned were both incredibly disciplined. Aside from Evan Rivers having a toxic tongue, his character was top-notch. As for Zane Shepherd, he was widely known in the industry as the epitome of grace and peerless elegance.

Rian took a sip of her tea, then suddenly snapped her head toward Selena. "Selena, didn’t you stan an idol named Evan Walsh a few years back?"

Selena instantly broke down at those words. She covered her face and shook her head vehemently. "Ria, let’s never speak of that again! I was blind back then! But my taste is impeccable now! Just look at my precious boy—he is so law-abiding! He’s definitely not going to get into trouble!"

If Selena had said this about anyone else she stanned, Rian absolutely wouldn’t have believed her. After all, her faith in Evan Walsh had blown up in her face, leaving her shutting herself away in depression for days. But thinking of Zane Shepherd... Setting aside the Shepherd Family, there was no way his older brother, Wyatt Shepherd, would ever let his younger sibling break the law. It seemed Selena was finally stanning a solid artist.

After dinner, Rian looked at Selena, who was currently playing dead on the bed. "You came all the way to Argent, and you’re just going to potato on the bed all night?"

Selena lay spread-eagle on the mattress. "Ria, don’t you know that the bed is our ultimate resting place? There’s nothing better than rotting in bed! Why go out? Can it possibly be better than a good sleep?"

Watching her behavior, Rian leaned in and whispered a few words. Selena immediately sprang up like a jack-in-the-box. "Let’s go! Right now!"

Selena whipped out her makeup bag and started aggressively applying her cosmetics.

A short while later, after parking the car, Rian led Selena into the private room she had booked in advance at Moonlight.